The Second Hurdle
by alatariel-gildaen
Summary: There comes a time in every new relationship where two lovers clash. How you react to that clash can be the make or break point. Peeta and Katniss already overcame their first epic hurdle. How will they cope with their second? Modern AU, written for Prompts in Panem's Seven Deadly Sins Challenge - Wrath.


**A/N - Written for _Prompts in Panem _Round 4. Seven Deadly Sins - Day 1 - Wrath. This is a oneshot from the _Sabotaged Heart_ universe, set roughly three months after that story ends. This should work pretty much as a stand alone but if you want a little more background on their lives then feel free to check it out. There will at some point be a sequel to _SH_, so any questions from this one shot will also get answered in that too.**

**I'd just like to say a massive thanks to Court81981 for help and support. YOU ARE AMAZING.**

**I'm on tumblr (alatarielgildaen dot tumblr dot com) so feel free to follow me or ask me anything :)**

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"You don't talk much about your family."

"You're right."

"Why not?"

"There's really not much to talk about."

"Don't you miss them?"

They were stood in Peeta's kitchen, Peeta washing up the dishes, pans and plates, Katniss drying. Prim and Rue had popped over for dinner and left not long ago. It was one of the wonderful bonuses that came from being with Peeta; it gave her the perfect excuse to be able to visit her sister so much more often, and she could not understand how Peeta had gone so long without seeing or speaking to either of his brothers.

"Yes, I miss dad. There's not a day goes past that I don't miss him."

"I'm not talking about your dad, Peeta."

"Well, I don't give a shit about mum, so there's no point talking about her either."

"I'm not talking about your mum and you know it."

He was scrubbing a frying pan with such furious aggression that Katniss was beginning to regret bringing the subject up.

"Forget I said anything," she said, snatching the pan away from him the moment he put it down and drying it with equal vigour.

"They're the ones who cut me out, Katniss," he replied, emptying the washing up bowl down the sink before throwing the fridge door open and grabbing a beer, popping the lid off and sitting down heavily.

"And you haven't made any effort to reconnect with them?"

"I'm not getting in to an argument over this," he said, his voice becoming heated. "They made it pretty clear they didn't want me in their lives and they haven't ever tried to reconcile, so why should I?"

With a deep sigh, Katniss shook her head at his stubbornness. "Because, Peeta, you don't want to end up an old man regretting that you never even tried."

"You're assuming I'd regret it," he said, taking a swig from his beer. When he next spoke his tone had changed from anger to a complete dull flatness. "Besides, I've got no way of getting in contact. I deleted their numbers ages ago."

"Oh come on, Peeta, you know there ways if you actually wanted to. Facebook?"

"They deleted me."

"So re-add them. Send them a message."

"Why are you so bothered about this?"

"I just think it's sad. I couldn't imagine not having Prim in my life."

"Yeah, well, neither Rye or Crispian are anything like Prim."

His defeatist attitude began to wind her up, but she kept her voice steady as she spoke. "Aren't you even a little curious?"

"For fuck's sake, if I look them up will you drop it?"

"We'll see."

Peeta shook his head slightly and stood up. "Fine. I'll get my computer."

He vanished from the kitchen as Katniss finished drying up, returning just as she helped herself to a beer and sat down at the table beside him. His right leg was twitching up and down, a habit she'd noticed him display when he was nervous. "You ok?" she asked him.

"Fine," he responded, clearly unwilling to elaborate. His leg continued to twitch as the laptop loaded up. As soon as he was able he logged on to his page and Katniss winced at the images of industry sanctioned animal cruelty that came up in his newsfeed from the various pages he either followed or was an admin of.

"I don't know how you of all people can bear to look at that."

"I don't enjoy seeing it, you know that. But it's important to show people what they pay for. If you don't like seeing pictures of it, you need to stop the cruelty, not the pictures."

"It's sick," she said quietly.

"I know it's fucking sick, don't blame me for it."

"People don't want to see it, Peeta. I wouldn't be surprised if most people hide it from their feeds anyway."

"Not seeing it, ignoring what happens, isn't going to stop it happening, Katniss. It just means they'll continue to suffer in silence. And what, are telling me you hide me in your feed?"

She took a deep breath and let it pass. For some reason, despite what he said about not wanting to, he seemed to be pretty determined to get in to an argument about something. It was just a case of deciding on the topic.

When she didn't respond he clenched his jaw and typed the name 'Rye Mellark' in to the search bar. Nothing came up. He tried again with 'Crispian Mellark.' Again, nothing. "Well that was a waste of time," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Either they've deleted their profiles entirely, or they've blocked me."

"Let me try," she said, spinning the laptop around to face her. In a few seconds she had logged Peeta out and signed in herself. She tried Rye first, and his profile came up straight away. There could be no doubt at all that they were brothers. Rye's hair was cut shorter, and he carried a little more weight on him, but they had the same eyes, the same nose, the same lopsided smile…. His cover photo was a family portrait showing him, his wife and a young daughter. Katniss spun the laptop around to show Peeta. "You want me to send him a message?"

All the colour drained from his face as he looked at the family portrait, his fingers brushing lightly over the image on screen. "I'm an uncle…." The words were barely audible but Katniss could detect the pain behind them.

"You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't fucking know," he snapped before pulling the laptop closer to him. "Would you look at that. Married too. Great. Fucking great." He furiously tapped a few letters on the keyboard. Moments later Crispian Mellark's profile appeared on screen. "_Really _fucking great. Cris's married as well. My brothers both got married, neither of them bothered to invite me and to top it all off they've fucking blocked me so I wouldn't even know. Well Katniss, I hope you're fucking satisfied." He stood up so quickly that the chair nearly overbalanced, making Katniss jump slightly.

"Don't take it out on me," she said, her voice rising. "I was only trying to help!"

"Yeah. Cheers. Really fucking helpful. As you can see I feel a hell of a lot better now compared to ten minutes ago. You should market this as some new kind of self-help therapy. You'd make a fucking fortune."

"Firstly, drop the sarcasm, ok? And secondly, I'm not psychic! How was I supposed to know what they've done?"

"Yeah, well, if you weren't interfering so much-"

"Interfering?" she spat, getting angrier by the second. "How dare you! I'm sorry if you're too stupid to tell the difference between 'interfering' and someone who cares about you being concerned for your happiness-"

"Oh, fuck off with that condescending attitude."

"Don't speak to me like that, Peeta," and all the fire had dropped from her voice. She was as cold as ice. "Don't swear at me. You know I hate it." Fury blazed in his eyes as she held his gaze for a moment before he spun on his heels and walked away from her. "Where are you going?"

"Out." He whistled loudly, and Belle came bounding in. In a rage he snatched her lead from its hook on the wall, accidentally dislodging a couple of sets of keys which he didn't bother to pick up. After attaching the lead to Belle's collar he marched towards the front door, ignoring Katniss' protests, and slamming the door with a resounding bang behind him.

With Peeta gone the silence in the house seemed deafening. At that moment she was beyond grateful that Peeta had gone out because she wanted nothing more than to punch him. Interfering? She'd show him interfering. Knocking back most of her beer, she sat back in front of the laptop and pulled it closer to her. The page was still open on Crispian's profile – and again the family resemblance was remarkable – and feeling a reckless annoyance at Peeta's anger at her, she clicked on the message tab at the top of the page.

_Hi,_

_Apologies for contacting you out of the blue, and I understand if you choose to ignore this message. I am friends with your brother, Peeta. He desperately misses you. I don't know the extent of what happened between you but I believe in letting bygones be bygones, and if there is any way to repair your relationship then I believe you should take that chance before it is too late. _

_He doesn't know I've contacted you, so ignoring this message won't open the gulf between you any wider, but if you are interested in seeing him again, please let me know._

_Kind regards,_

_Katniss Everdeen._

She re-read the message. It was short, to the point, and left him a guilt-free get-out clause if he wanted It. Without thinking twice she hit send, then copied the posted message and sent a duplicate to Peeta's other brother, Rye.

After closing the laptop down her heart was pounding as a little shade of remorse began to creep in. Had she done the right thing? Only time would tell now; she couldn't take it back, but she prayed she hadn't made it worse.

She grabbed another beer from the fridge and went to sit in the living room, kicking her feet up on the couch and turning on the TV, feeling a stab of annoyance as the Cartoon Network channel was automatically loaded up. Usually she found Peeta's love of cartoons charming and endearing. Instead at that moment she found it irritating. "Childish little prick," she muttered under her breath as she started to channel hop backwards, immediately feeling a twinge of guilt for allowing those words to leave her, even if there was no one but the cats to hear them.

She had seen Peeta's anger rise to the surface a couple of times, but it had never been directed at her before. A plethora of emotions within her fought for control. Anger at him that he was able to fly off the handle so irrationally. Pride, that she felt she had handled herself well, stayed calm and collected. Worry for Peeta, for where we had gone and what he might be doing. Fear. Not fear of him, but fear for the two of them. They had only recently admitted their love for each other and she was scared for anything to jeopardise that.

Eventually settling on watching an old episode of _Only Fools and Horses_ that she knew she would be able to watch and switch off her mind to, she lay back on the couch, slowly sipping at her bottle of Stella and began to await Peeta's return. The episode ended and she still felt the heat of the argument bubbling away under the surface of her skin. Deciding that beer wasn't helping her mood at all, she heated up a pan full of hazelnut milk to make a hot chocolate, and slowly sipped at that as she watched another episode. Her frayed nerves began to soothe, but as more time passed she started to get concerned. It had been well over an hour and Peeta hadn't returned. She tried his phone, but heard it ringing in the kitchen, damning him momentarily for forgetting to take it with him. After a while, when he still hadn't returned she started pacing back and forth, looking out the front window every few minutes, and she began to go out of her mind with worry. It seemed like an age passed before she finally heard his keys in the front door, and she stormed in to the hall to meet him.

At the sight of him walking nonchalantly through the door all her anguish evaporated, only to be replaced by a seething infuriation. "Where the hell have you been?" she raged at him.

'_Probably not the best tactic to take_,' she thought as she could see the furious temper that had clearly dissipated through his long walk begin to resurface.

"I told you," he answered shortly. "Out."

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" she spat out, her ire making her swell and feel twice as tall as she actually was.

He shrugged as he bent down to let Belle off the lead, refusing to even look at her.

"Don't ignore me, Peeta Mellark!"

The use of his surname made him stop and stare at her, a disbelieving look on his face. "Are you going to keep talking to me like I'm a child?"

"Yeah, as long as you keep acting like one."

"Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

"I told you," she said, storming forward, striking out at the top of his arms, unable to control herself, "I _hate_ it when you swear at me."

He stared at her for a long second, and for a moment Katniss thought she'd pushed him too far, that he would retaliate to her physical aggression in a like-minded manner. For a moment it appeared like her suspicions were correct when he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pushed her back against the wall, but it took her entirely by surprise when he forced his mouth over hers. She pushed him away and as he stumbled backwards she caught the look in his eyes; that he knew he had crossed an unspoken boundary and was fearful of the consequences.

They hovered awkwardly in the hall for a moment, before Katniss returned the favour. Without really knowing why she was doing it, she grabbed hold of the front of his shirt and pushed him forcefully against the opposite wall, pressing her lips to his, invading his mouth with her tongue. She pulled away for a moment and his eyes were wide open, completely dumbstruck.

It didn't take long for him to come back to his senses. Their kisses had set a challenge to the other, a play for power that neither was going to back down from. She felt a thrill of excitement as he spun her around, pressed her against the wall and began to dominate her mouth.

It soon became clear who was going to win the power play. Peeta was simply too strong for her and soon his kisses were navigating her backwards into his living room. She nearly tripped over when the backs of her legs hit his couch but he held her upright and spun her around to face away from him. As he kissed along her neck and shoulders she could feel his erection pressing into her before he pushed her down on to her knees, bending her over the couch. Kneeling behind her, trapping her between the sofa and his own body his arousal became even more pronounced and she felt entirely helpless as his arms slipped around her, his fingers sliding beneath the waistband of her jeans, pulling furiously at the edge of her underwear. She brought her hands down to undo her jeans, to help him take them off her but as soon as he realised what she was doing he grabbed her wrists and slammed them down on the seat of the couch. It was a very clear statement. _'I'm in control. You'll do what I want.'_

With her wrists held down she was mostly unable to move, but she managed to wriggle her hips a little, pushing back into him. He made a deep groaning sound in the back of his throat and brought his lips to her neck, sucking and nipping at the skin just below her ear.

Without warning he released his grip on her and in one move pulled her shirt up and over her head, throwing it on to the floor beside them. His hands plunged lower and tore open the buttons on her jeans before he pushed them down roughly over her hips and slipped a hand into her underwear. His fingers slid over the wetness between her thighs, causing her to moan his name and in response his hips jerked forwards roughly, claiming her even further. During their time together he had become an expert at reading her signs, knowing exactly where to stroke or lick or suck, whether to be firm or gentle, slow or fast, to bring her to orgasm quickly again and again and again.

She was getting close. Automatically her fists grabbed hold of the cushions in front of her as her muscles began to tense.

"Are you going to come?" Peeta asked her, his voice gravelly.

"Yes," she whimpered in response.

"No, you're not," he replied, taking his fingers away from her. Through her frustration Katniss felt his warm weight leave her back. "Undress yourself and turn to face me," he said, and she immediately did as she was told to be greeted by the sight of Peeta standing over her and sucking on his fingers. "Fuck, you taste so good," he said, his eyes falling closed and his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes snapped open, pupils dilated, and he met her gaze. "Touch yourself. I want to watch you."

Sitting on the floor, she bent her knees up and parted her legs and was rewarded with the sight of Peeta licking his lips, longing written all over his face. She cupped and squeezed her own left breast with one hand, and, parting her slick folds with the other she began to deftly circle the nub of flesh that would bring her so much pleasure.

"Tell me when you're close," Peeta instructed her, slowly unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his shirt.

It wasn't going to take long, she knew that much, especially as she was watching Peeta undressing with such an uncharacteristic predatory look in his eyes. She made a mental note to try and anger him more often.

"I'm close," she choked out.

"Get on your knees." She did as she was told and Peeta said in a voice edged with danger, "I didn't tell you to stop touching yourself."

His intention became apparent as he stepped out of his boxers and gripped a fistful of her hair, pushing her open mouth down over him, causing her to gag slightly when he thrust too far forward. Working her tongue over his shaft, she delighted in the pleasured sounds he was making, in the way his fingers massaged her scalp. She greedily sucked and swallowed the pre-cum, the slight saltiness that was just so _Peeta_.

"I'm gonna fuck you so hard as soon as you come," he growled, his breathing becoming heavier and more erratic.

His words were all it took. It rose up through her like a tsunami, pleasure emanating from her core and spreading out through her entire body. Her cries were muffled by Peeta's cock; he held her in place while she rode out her orgasm until, boneless, she fell back against the edge of the couch.

"Bend over the couch," he instructed her. She knelt in position, unable to think for herself and only able to respond to Peeta's insistent requests. She felt the cool metal of his prosthetic on the outside of her calf; the contrast with the heat from the rest of his body even more apparent than usual. Once again she gripped the cushions in anticipation, but Peeta clearly had other ideas. Pulling her arms behind her back, he gripped her wrists in one hand, pinning her in place. She could feel his erection, wet with her saliva, as he rested it between her cheeks before he brought his palm down against her backside, hard and fast. The stinging sensation caused her to yelp slightly and made her heart race faster, and she wiggled her hips against his, desperate for him to fill her.

He didn't need asking twice. He entered her in one sudden movement, and Katniss cried out at the sudden invading sense of fullness. He usually took his time but not today; his thrusts were deep, hard and fast and Katniss couldn't do anything but moan incoherently. Straight away she was pure sensation and nothing else; her mind stopped all rational thought. With her hands pinned behind her she was unable to move, and Peeta's free hand entwined in her hair, twisting her braid round slightly before pulling back, lifting her head off the couch.

She lost all sense of time and all sense of self until suddenly she felt Peeta stiffen behind her, releasing his grip on her wrists and grasping on to her hips instead, pulling her back further on to him. His movements slowed down; one, two, three more shallow thrusts and he fell against her, his breathing heavy and ragged. Lips pressed softly against her pulse point and she lifted herself up off the couch slightly, spinning her head round to greet him and capturing those lips in a hungry kiss.

Sweat began to cool against their bodies and Peeta reached up to pull the throw off the couch, draping it over the two of them as they sat on the floor together, panting and heaving.

A look of shame covered his face, and he seemed unable to make eye contact with her. Eventually he pointed to his eye, then to the left hand side of his chest, then to Katniss. _I love you._ "I know," she said, allowing a small smile to lift the corners of her mouth.

"Lots," he said.

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"I mean for everything. For losing it with you and….the rest."

"The rest?" she asked, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek. He looked pained and stricken, lost in a world of grief.

"That wasn't me. I was just so full of….rage and….Did I.…. Oh, god, I hope I didn't…. Did I hurt you?"

"No, Peeta. I'm ok. I didn't say 'no,' and you'd have stopped if I had, right?"

"Of course I would," he replied, horror at the implication apparent in his eyes.

Seeing the hurt, Katniss brushed a few stray curls away from his forehead before claiming his lips in another kiss. "Well then. And you know, I'd rather you worked your aggression out that way instead. Much more fun for me."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Did I tell you I love you?"

"Yes," she said softly, gently brushing her lips over his.

"And did I say I'm sorry?"

"Yes!" she laughed. "And me too. I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't realise it was going to be such an emotive topic."

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It's just hard, you know? You get so used to someone not being there, and then to get reminded of what you've missed out on, what you've lost… It comes as a real shock."

"So you do miss them?"

"I do," he admitted sadly. "I really do. I don't think I knew how much until I saw their pictures."

"So you'd see them again if you could?"

He shook his head and smiled bitterly. "That's a big 'if,' Katniss. We all said some pretty hurtful things last time we saw each other."

"Maybe one day though, hey?" she asked, thinking of the message she'd already sent to his brothers, and wondering how he would react if he knew.

A half smile ghosted across his face for a moment. "Maybe," he replied. "It's been a long journey repairing this fuck up-" he pointed to his own head, "- and I'm doing it one day at a time. So maybe. One day."

"And when it happens, I'll be there, if you want me to be."

He closed his eyes and pulled her close to him. "I'd like that."

"Peeta?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

She sat up briefly so he could see her, then pointed at her eye, at her heart, at Peeta, then held up a couple of fingers. _I love you too._


End file.
